[Twitchy15]

Originally Posted by getbak

One thing I'd say is no matter what you decide to do, don't do anything with the money until you're sure everything is settled and you've received the clearance certificate from the CRA.

If you decide to give your sister half and then a few months down the road, it turns out there's a bunch of unexpected money owing, you don't want to have to try to get it back from your sister.


By waiting, it puts some time between the emotions of the moment and deciding what to do. If your mom brings it up again, tell her that you have to wait for things to get finalized before you know what the final amount will be and you'll deal with it then.

Also, if you're the sole executor and you're also dealing with cleaning up his place and dealing with his possessions and everything without any help from your sister or mother, make sure you're fairly compensated for your time dealing with that too. It's not easy and can take a lot of time and effort to deal with everything. There can be a lot of driving around and you might need to take time off work to go to banks, lawyers, accountants, realtors, etc.

Plant the seeds now that just because the insurance payout is X, it doesn't mean you'll just be walking away with X in your pocket. That way, whatever you do end up giving to your sister, the expectation should not be that it will be 50% of X.

He did not own any property so not sure what would be taxed or not. Essentially just what’s in his bank account, I now have the vehicle in my name and then there will be life insurance money and rrsp. I know the rrsp will be taxed but I guess I’ll find out around tax time?